Chambers shines up UNLV diamond

Tim Chambers has never been one to blow an uncertain trumpet. The guy dreams big and expects those around him to share a similar confidence.

If not, what's the point of new paint and a place to take out the trash?

UNLV baseball has gone about its business in a relatively unnoticed manner of late, sleepwalking through one losing season after another. The seats have been empty above the grass at Wilson Stadium and the play not very inspiring on it.

When you know things have been dire: Any noise associated with baseball the last four years has come from jets descending into McCarran International.

But the man a community wanted for years to assume control of the program has and is now convinced time will produce great success.

He is itching to get started.

"Las Vegas wants us to be good, and we need to be good," Chambers said. "Why not us? We should win here. If we don't, it's on me. But I think we're going to win, starting with being better this year than some think."

UNLV opens its season against visiting Maine at 6:05 p.m. Friday, and those who attend shouldn't assume they have strolled into the wrong complex.

Chambers was hired in June away from the power he built at the College of Southern Nevada and immediately turned his attention to what he thinks will one day place UNLV among those college programs who annually think of the College World Series as a possible destination and not an unattainable fantasy.

Facilities matter, and most everyone good has attractive enough ones to compete for the best recruits. Chambers took the UNLV job on the condition he would be able to do baseball-specific fundraising, to reach out, to call on those community leaders who for so long championed his name as the one who could turn UNLV into a power.

So far, they have come through.

"I don't think I've had a 'No' yet," Chambers said.

There are four new batting cages and turf to go with them. There is a new infield. Rebuilt dugouts. A refurbished clubhouse and an updated press box. There is new screening around the outfield walls and backstop. New chain-link fencing. New landscaping. A place now to properly store and remove trash.

Paint. There is new paint everywhere. The school colors now dominate the stadium's interior. Rubber flooring has replaced concrete in several places.

It was a tired facility when Chambers arrived. It's awake now.

Chambers estimates the upgrades would have cost $250,000, but not once did he ask for a penny from an athletic department struggling to exist within a university that could soon declare bankruptcy.

The school helped with trade as a way to offset costs, but this was far more about those with the means and know-how believing in Chambers and his vision offering their expertise and manpower.

It doesn't stop here. Chambers talks of expanding the stadium, of a two-level press box and suites, of new outfield grass, of a new clubhouse adjacent to the field, of making UNLV's home impressive enough that NCAA regionals and super regionals land in Las Vegas.

He will need another component to realize such times, of course: winning.

The Rebels are picked fifth in a league race that again should be dominated by Texas Christian, whose move to the Big East Conference in 2012 won't be mourned by opposing baseball programs in the Mountain West.

Chambers will debut a roster Friday that includes 11 players who helped CSN advance to the Junior College World Series.

(No, that Harper kid isn't one of them. He chose a little something known as $9.9 million.)

Commitments from top locals to play for Chambers continue to roll in for next season and beyond, and there isn't an opponent he won't consider scheduling. He wants to play the best, evaluate what makes them the best and duplicate it here.

"I'd rather go get my rear end kicked and play anybody anywhere at any time to know where we have to get as a program," said Chambers, whose team next season will open at home with a three-game series against Cal State Fullerton. "For recruits, a lot of it is facilities and who you play. It has to happen here. It has to. We expect to win.

"It's baseball. Catch it, throw it, catch it again, run the bases, don't be stupid. I'm sure the first time we get beat bad, we'll go into the office and say, 'OK, now what do we do?' But we have a vision of where we want to be. I don't feel pressure. We have a shot to do this."

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.